“We could perhaps have learned something. A scout could have followed the tracks! I am told you did nothing!”
There was that word again. Was it going to haunt me? “A scout following tracks in a camp of seven thousand men? And what, might I ask, could a battle mage do?”
Larner cleared his throat deliberately. “Commander. No offense intended but you are somewhat more ignorant in matters sorcerous than I. I assure you, had we been summoned at once there would have been at least some information gained.”
Then I'm damn glad I didn't summon you. “I accept that. And it was remiss of me. That I have the right to command your services had escaped me.”
“Now, here, Sum… Commander. That is overstating the case and you know it.”
I shrugged. “I am in command of the unit you are attached to. Shall we bring the matter to the attention of the commander and have it clarified.”
“I think not, and you are evading the subject.”
“I have given as much apology as I will, and assure you it will not happen again.”
“I wonder if you are in control. If our area of the camp is safe.”
I hadn't given the matter a second's thought, we were inside a fort, patrolled, but now I knew that there were threats within. “My men patrol the area,” I said, hoping it was true. Where had Luk and Gobin been last night while I passed time with Kerral and Pakat? I had not seen them at their tent but I had not been looking. I had reason to trust them, their experience, knowledge, competence. I'd check discreetly as soon as I could. “And if you are concerned, you are, as you have reminded me, battle mages. Can you do nothing to enhance our security?”
Larner snorted, half derision, half humor. “We will take such measures as seem discreet and appropriate.”
“Do that, please. But keep me informed.”
He glowered for a moment, but acquiesced. He or one of his would have to come and report to me. It was a mistake I had been making and now it was corrected. I was in command. They would obey my orders. I didn't think for a second that this was the end of it, but it was a start.
When they left I settled back to enjoy the rest of the ride. And planning. Always planning.
27
The region adjacent to the road was far more densely populated than the previous provinces. The fertility of the terrain saw to that. As a consequence the road was busier, or would be if we were not using it. Common people did not get in the way of an army and they could hear us coming. We passed them in groups; wagons, flocks, on foot and on horseback. They waited at the side of the road and watched us pass. No one seemed unhappy to see us but no one seemed overjoyed either. We were a friendly force, no doubt of that, but where there is a friendly force there is an enemy force and the people suffer. Actually that is a lie. A friendly force will consume two tenths of the total produce of their own people in the area of conflict. They knew it even if the nobility chose to ignore the fact. We paid, yes, but you can't buy what is no longer there. Imagine two men with their surplus stocks gone, each with some new money in his pocket. Neither can buy from the other. It isn't quite that bad but the lie is a useful one. That is why it is advantageous to take enemy supplies. The rule of thumb is an enemy wagon of supplies is worth twenty of your own. It hurts them that badly.
Of course most people don't think these things through to that extent. The people we passed were more glum than happy because they knew that war is a bad thing for them. The young were excited, of course. An army on the march is a spectacle, an event to be enjoyed. So there were mixed feelings on the faces of the people we passed. They knew there was war in the north and hoped it stayed there. In the north it was a topic of gossip and speculation and excitement. On their own fields it would be a nightmare. A hell. Maybe the end. Some knew that and feared it. Can't say I blame them. Of course, there are some who see profit in war, and there is money to be made. Our baggage train increased in size as merchants tagged on the back. They were kept at a distance. When we camped they would be interrogated by a commander and accepted into the baggage train depending on what they had and who they were.
At one point I passed a large group of men and horses a good way off the road and was surprised to see our banner there, and others that I did not immediately recognize. I glimpsed Tulian, and a couple of other commanders. Then Orthand himself. Interested, I pulled off the road and watched for a bit. I started picking out banners and trying to identify them from memory. I just never put the time into studying them, so if I recognized one it would be luck. Finally I figured it out, more by the intricacy of one of the largest banner than anything else. Here was the King of Wherrel, a client and put on his throne by a patron – but still a king. He was in company of his most notable barons, plus some key local citizens. Come to meet with the army and discus transit, supply and other issues. Doubtless there would also be an agreement of aid, local forces to assist us in the coming conflict, as the north was rising, according to all rumor and intelligence. Satisfied, I turned away and tacked on to the end of my troop, then moved forward to join Rastrian. We seemed to have settled back into a friendly relationship after our clash. My innocence in the death of his man had helped, I think.
“When do you think they will join us, and how many?”
“Depends on how serious they take the threat. If the Ensibi fall completely it isn't far through Geduri territory to the north of Wherrel. I guess that we will join them, in fact. Somewhere near the northern border. If it happens.”
“Then you will fall to squabbling over command.”
I laughed, lightly. “Probably.” It was true. The patrons did a great deal of maneuvering and in-fighting to gain command of any force in the field. Orthand, Tulian, the King of Wherrel's patron, or chosen general should he not take the field himself, all would want Command. Tul didn't control enough men or have enough status to be a contender and had already aligned with Orthand. But the other two would fight tooth and nail for overall command. There had been cases where two and three patrons had split their forces and acted independently rather than share command. Sometimes with disastrous results. A divided army rarely prevails. It had happened that such armies refused to acknowledge each other's existence, messages and intelligence, even stark warnings being ignored through the assumption that they were misinformation. Slaughters had resulted, yet we are still the same. Despite our faults and flaws we are still a dominant power. None greater in all the world. The stones that feed the magic of battle mages and healers have a part in that, agreed. But even without them I believe we would have done well, internal competition and rivalry breeds both results and competitive men. Even I was prone to it; pride and competition, the desire to shine, and I am the least like my fellows of any of us that I know.
“Maybe the king has already sent an army ahead of us to attack the Alendi? Maybe the war is already over?”
I was looking at him and the shock must have been obvious because he trailed off and fell silent, puzzled. He really didn't understand us at all. The Ensibi were Orthand's problem. Why would anyone put his own power base, money, efforts, forces, anything on the line at all? Least of all first!
Okay, if the Alendi or a general rising in the north looked like it might be a threat to the city, the city would act. Some might be acting now, just in case, making preparations, but little more. Latandin Keshil Herrap was the patron of the client Kingdom of Wherrel, and his concern would be his clients, nothing more. If it looked like the only way to safeguard his own property was to strike north he might consider allowing Orthand to join his army and help. That's the way he would look at it. Orthand would be thinking in terms of not having to share the profit of war if he could help it but if he needed some more troops then allowing Latandin to supply them would not be out of the question. I tried to explain this to Rastrian, a foreign captain of mercenaries, but he just didn't understand it.
“Even if there were no consideration other than an overwhelming enemy approaching the city there might be arguments about who lead the armies, and there would be armies, dozens if the city looked like it might be threatened.”
“No offense but I think you people are crazy.”
I laughed again. “Yet here we are, the greatest nation on earth.”
“Not the largest.”
