Mamelukes

by Jerry Pournelle

  “Wine?” Publius asked. “It will not be as good as what my daughter served me from your cellars, but it should serve.”

  “Thank you,” Rick said. I suppose I’d better take inventory. Just what do I have left? Fortunately, weapons and medicines were in Elliot’s care. Octavia couldn’t requisition those as easily as his pantry and wine cellar.

  “And here’s Lucius,” Publius said.

  “Ah. Well met again, Sage,” Rick said.

  Lucius limped in slowly. He carried a stout staff which he gave to an attendant when he was seated. He seemed frail, but his manner was energetic.

  “Well met, Caesar’s Friend,” he said. “You are well? And the Lady Tylara?”

  “Well indeed,” Rick said.

  “She is none the worse for her captivity, then?”

  Rick hesitated.

  “No. Prince Strymon is an honorable man,” Warner said.

  Lucius nodded, and nodded to Warner as if seeing him for the first time.

  “I had heard such. It is good to know that some of our enemies have honor.” The elderly scholar sighed. “But of course you know I have come to tell you of grave matters.”

  “I guessed as much,” Rick said.

  “There are matters of immediate concern,” Lucius said. “But first, know that Marselius Caesar has appointed me Principal Scholar of Rome.”

  “My congratulations.”

  “Thank you. The title is flattering, but the duties have been severe. It has been my task to winnow through the oldest records in the Roman archives, records long sealed by generations of Caesars and bishops.”

  “Back to the Time?”

  “And beyond, to Times before the last. Lord Rick, we have good reason to believe that the lowlands around the city of Rome will be flooded, to a depth allowing ships to pass between the Empire and Drantos. Rome and the Latin provinces will be an island! Tamaerthan another! Ships will come from the south, ships bearing plague. Rome’s western provinces will be isolated, victims to barbarian migrations, unreachable by land from Rome. All this and more, and what is astonishing is the speed at which it will happen. No more than a year will pass before the only communications between Rome and Drantos will be by ship! Already the roads are mud, and the low valley fields have become salt swamps!”

  Rick had never seen the old man so excited. Of course he had reason to be.

  “Icecaps melt,” Rick said. “Glaciers flow into the sea. Sea level rises during the Time. I’d heard this, but I never knew by how much or how quickly.” The Shalnuksis had told him almost nothing about their previous visits to the planet. His brief look at Tran from space had revealed extensive ice caps at both poles and extending well north and southward. Enough ice, Rick supposed, to raise the seas if melted, but there was no way to find out. Local records were all he had to go on, and few of those were reliable. Perhaps the Roman records were better.

  “This castle is set in a swamp,” he said. “Will it be flooded?”

  “The bailey, almost certainly, but I think not the castle itself,” Lucius said. “It remains on the ancient maps. But an arm of the sea will reach far inland, perhaps to the very gates. And the caves below may flood.”

  “Jeez,” Warner said.

  Interesting that Lucius knew about the caves. That was supposed to be Yatar’s secret. With this move to unify the Roman Christian Church with the worship of Yatar, there would be precious few secrets of that kind for much longer. As to flooding, it would be unlikely, Rick thought. The passage under the castle to the caves would flood, but the caves themselves were largely set in limestone hills a mile south of the castle, and were probably higher than the castle courtyard itself. But without a survey there was no way to know. Something else to do . . .

  “The madweed fields,” Warner said. “They’re mostly above the swamps, but how far above? I sure don’t know.”

  Rick nodded.

  “And the croplands at swamp level will certainly flood. We’ll have to find another base for that operation.” Which I’m doing now, but no need to tell the Romans. Still, it’s another damn thing to worry about. He’d hoped to get another ten years’ crops out of this place. Without a continuous supply of madweed, the Shalnuksis wouldn’t put much value on Tran. Then what?

  “We will require a navy,” Lucius said. “We have a small war fleet, but we have always relied on Nikeis to provide most of the shipping in the Great Bay, and our southern provinces provide their own navy. At Rome proper our ships are old. We think little of the sea.”

  “And Rome has few forests near the coasts,” Publius said.

  “But perhaps near what will become coasts,” Lucius mused. “We would be grateful for any information your University can provide.”

  “Of course.” And life here goes on, unless the Shalnuksis decide to finish us off once and for all. We have to be prepared for what happens if they don’t. “Look to your early records, Scholar. On Earth, Rome was a considerable naval power,” Rick continued. “So much so that the Roman navy was largely without a history once the pirates were suppressed. The Mediterranean became mare nostrum, and Roman fleets dominated the seas. Have you no such traditions here?”

  “No,” Lucius said. “And it is odd, because I have found designs for ships in the archives. Some match ships we have. Others are for larger craft than any in our present fleet. But no, we have no history of naval power.”

  Rick nodded.

  “Neither does Drantos. Nor do we have forests near the coasts.” He tried to imagine where the high water would reach. If the stories about flooding between Rome and Drantos were true, then this might be a rise of forty or fifty feet! A lot of water. “Except possibly here. We’ll need to study maps and get some accurate measures of terrain elevations. Warner, that will be your job. You’re going to invent surveying.”

  Warner looked thoughtful.

  “If I ever get back to the University, Sir, I can set some gadgetry students to making a surveyor’s transit. I think I can do that all right. Then we can send some teams out . . . ”

  “Do that, Mr. Warner. As a high priority job. If the seas are rising we need to know where they’ll go.”

  “Sir.”

  “Indeed, I have begun mapping,” Lucius said. “Drantos has few seacoast forests and no tradition of shipbuilding. Tamaerthan has few forests, but does build coastal and fishing boats, much as Rome does. The Five Kingdoms have extensive forest in the eastern provinces. They have ships, and their fleets have raided south far enough that we have fortified most of our ports. There is one place that has always been active on the seas, however. Nikeis. They have always had shipyards, and the coasts around their island city are covered with hardwood forests.”

  “Ah. Nominal allies of Drantos,” Rick said.

  “Perhaps,” Publius said.

  Perhaps. That word said volumes.

  “You know something?”

  “Their council has expelled or imprisoned all foreigners and ambassadors. Including the star lords. Shortly thereafter the city was sealed. No word comes in or out. I do not believe this bodes well for your future relations.”

  “Expelled? Or imprisoned? My people?” Rick slammed his fist on the table. “Why wasn’t I told? We can’t have this!”

  “First I’ve heard of it, Boss,” Warner said.

  “Lucius?” Rick demanded.

  “Gently, Friend of Caesar,” Lucius said. “I have known of this only a few days, and I did not know where to find you. It is not news to be given out lightly! And we know only that Nikeis is sealed, and Romans expelled. We know nothing of your people.”

  “Warner.”

  “Sir?”

  “Warner, I sent messages weeks ago asking for reports from our people in Nikeis. Have we heard anything?”

  “Nothing, Sir,” Warner said. “With your permission I’ll ask Elliot to look into it. There’s been long enough for a message to get there and back. Of course the reply might be chasing you down, since you told Bisso you wanted it p
ersonal.”

  Rick nodded.

  “Make it so. Maybe we should have heard from Nikeis and maybe not. Would they harm ambassadors? Star lords?” he asked.

  “It is unlikely, I think, but I cannot say for certain,” Lucius responded. “They have long been our trading partners, effectively allies, but they keep their own counsel. They are a nation of traders, mostly, and they share little knowledge—none that they think might give them an advantage. As to this latest matter, we have no full reports. One messenger, with what he was told. We believe some of our agents were forewarned and escaped. We have heard no more about yours, but we await news.”

  “Clavell and Harrison were in Nikeis,” Warner said. “Part of the medicine shows and the whole seagull guano experiments. I know they took their sidearms and battle rifles, but I don’t remember them having any other equipment. Colonel, this could mean war.”

  “Yeah,” Rick said. One more bloody thing to worry about! “But why would they do that?”

  “The records show they have been a great power in the past,” Publius said. “A naval power, mostly, but a great power. Perhaps they feel they can do as they like. Perhaps they believe your star weapons will not reach to their city. It is certain you have shown no inclinations to build a navy.”

  “And their captain left the Ottarn battlefield angry with Drantos,” Warner said.

  “We have heard that it was with reason,” Lucius said.

  “You’ve heard about that? Sheesh, what else have you heard?” Rick asked.

  “Much,” Publius said. “Much that I do not care to discuss anywhere we can be overheard. Come to dinner. There is much we must tell you.”

  * * *

  Rick had never got used to dining in the Roman manner, guests reclining on couches. Not only did it seem decadent, but it was hard to eat properly unless you encouraged one of the many retainers to feed you. Warner seemed to have no trouble with that. For a moment, Rick envied Warner’s easy rapport with the serving girl he would undoubtedly meet later in the evening. Then he remembered Tylara.

  Strange to feel married again, he thought. But good. But good . . .

  Over dinner Warner told them about the departure of the Nikeis captain.

  “And he shook the dust off his feet at us,” he finished.

  “Certainly a curse,” Publius said. “One I’ve used myself. The bishops tell me the original apostles could call fire down on people that way. Never saw that happen myself, but you never know.”

  Warner nodded sagely.

  “What’s the status of the Nikeisian Church, then?” Rick asked.

  Publius looked to Lucius.

  “They are accepted as Christian, but uneasily,” Lucius said. “We do not share clergy, but Rome recognizes their sacraments as valid. Certainly as valid as the new Unified Church.”

  “You don’t accept the validity of the Unified Church?” Warner asked.

  “I am a scholar, perhaps a philosopher,” Lucius said. “But certainly not a theologian. If Polycarp can accept the new and unified religion, I will certainly find no quarrel with it. There is much to recommend it.”

  He’s an agnostic. Stoic, probably. Weaseling just like I am, Rick thought.

  “So the Nikeisian Church is valid. Orthodox,” Warner said, and Lucius frowned.

  “It is not a word we use, but I divine its meaning, and perhaps it is applicable here. Like Publius I have never seen a curse call down fire on an enemy, but if it can be done, the Nikeisian clergy might have as much power as any Roman clergy.”

  Skyfire, Rick thought. They know it’s possible, so why not as a result of a curse? Being absolutely certain that miracles can and do happen will change your religious views a whole bunch.

  “Yeah, well these weren’t clergy exactly,” he said aloud. “That I know of. They were soldiers. Pretty good ones, I was told.”

  “Nikeis has warrior orders,” Lucius said. “Their officers may be ordained.”

  “Maybe these were, then,” Rick said. “I never asked before. I didn’t see much of their fight myself, but by all accounts their company gave a good account of itself in the battle. So Nikeis is likely to be important now?”

  “They have a long tradition as seafarers,” Lucius said. “And a reputation for importance greater than the reality. But as you can see from the maps, they are bottled up in the Great Bay. They have holdings along the west coast of the bay. They call that Terra Firma, and there is much dispute over those. City-states, Drantos, the Five Kingdoms, the Grand Duchy, the Ganvin pirate nation—”

  “Pirate nation?” Warner asked.

  “As good a name for the Ganvin as any. They inhabit a chain of islands and a strip of the mainland along the northern tip of the Great Bay, and they raid the coasts for slaves. It is because of the Ganvin that Rome maintains an alliance with Nikeis.”

  “An expensive alliance,” Publius said. “We have twice in my lifetime sent a legion to their aid against the Five Kingdoms. Legions are expensive.”

  Lucius nodded.

  “So is a navy, Heir of Caesar. And now, I fear, we will need both in the Time ahead.”

  “So you’ve sent troops to help Nikeis,” Rick said.

  “Mostly to maintain their hold on the coastal forest strips. They have great need of those forests. For ships, but also for charcoal for their foundries. Nikeis has excellent foundries, as good as any in Rome. We buy from them.”

  “Bronze or iron?” Warner asked.

  “Both, Lord Warner.”

  “Guns,” Warner said. “May not be why they sent that company to join Ganton, but no soldier in his right mind could see Ganton’s Great Guns and musketeers without realizing the significance.” Warner suppressed a grin. “I’m certain the Roman officers didn’t.”

  Lucius said nothing.

  “I’d be astonished if Rome doesn’t have foundries as good as any in Nikeis by now,” Warner said. “Bronze and iron. And most of the students at the University know the formula for gunpowder.”

  Rick frowned.

  “You never said anything about that—”

  “It’s not the kind of thing you can keep secret,” Warner said defensively. “Colonel, you made barrels and barrels of the stuff! There must be four hundred craftsmen who’ve worked in powder mills. Hundreds more were out harvesting saltpeter from manure piles. Two squadrons of dragoons guarded sulfur mines. Charcoal is easy to make. Colonel, probably a quarter of the students at the University want to learn how to make proper gunpowder. They already know the formula. They make songs about it.”

  “And Roman frumentarii are very efficient,” Rick finished. “Yeah. I’ve been expecting this.” Just not so soon. And I’ve been running around pissing on fires, no time to think about any of this. Wonder if Lucius has figured out that his new navy is going to need guns and powder and lots of both? If he hasn’t, somebody has. But Lucius will certainly understand, and Marselius probably has foundries building cannon in Rome right now.

  Which means there’s no way to hide widespread technology advances from the Shalnuksis. Not with ships carrying cannons all over the planet . . . What comes after gunpowder? Smokeless powder. Strong water. Nitric acid and guncotton. And I don’t know how to make them. Maybe Warner does?

  Lucius resumed his rambling account.

  “The Nikeis influence to the south has been limited by the long sailing times around Rome’s Latin provinces. They have leased bases along the Roman eastern coast, but we maintain Roman garrisons in those fortresses. With a water passage separating Rome and Drantos opening a direct route to the south—” He shrugged “I would expect that to make a great difference.”

  “Even as it is, they have factoring posts all over the south,” Rick said. “We got some of our information about southern conditions from Nikeis. Shame to lose them as allies over some battlefield slight.”

  “What happened?”

  “I never really understood it,” Rick said. “I got to the battle, found out Ganton was in the thick of it ra
ther than directing all his forces—”

  Publius nodded.

  “My son-in-law has always been wont to command more like a centurion than a legate. It is good for morale, but a dangerous practice.”

  Rick paused, expecting a remark about barbarians, but Publius said nothing more.

  “But Julius Caesar himself fought in the ranks when he had to,” Warner said, and Lucius nodded.

  “So it is recorded. A great inspiration to the Legions.”

  “Yeah.” Rick leapt in before they could begin a new conversation that left him out. “Anyway, I got there to find there wasn’t really anyone in charge of the battle, and half our forces were standing their ground waiting to be told what to do. With Ganton holding like a rock in the center and everyone eager to pound at him it was no great trick to swing around and take the enemy from behind. Visibility was bad so we were able to surprise them. I don’t know where the Nikeisian contingent was during all this. Certainly not in my force. But come the next day, they were unhappy, about the division of the spoils, and how they were used, and everything else, and they didn’t even want to discuss it. Seemed a pretty trivial thing, but they shook the dust off their feet in our direction and went on their way. Now you tell me the city has imprisoned my ambassadors?”

  “Imprisoned or expelled yours and everyone else’s,” Publius said. “And closed the city for good measure.” He frowned and shook his head. “And that is all we know until more detailed reports arrive.”

  “All that over one regiment of troops getting shorted on the loot?” Rick said, and Publius smiled thinly.

  “Friend of Caesar, I doubt much that anything done at the Ottarn had one whit to do with this. Indeed, I think it the other way. The Nikeisian commander may have been ordered to find cause to leave you and found it simpler to simulate anger than contrive a better story. Much that happened in Nikeis was done before the battle of the Ottarn. It is difficult to determine times precisely, but we believe a week before that battle. Perhaps longer.”