Princeps

“I have to say that I didn’t see it. A line of ice, you say?”

“Yes, sir. Right strange.”

Quaeryt nodded. “That sounds very unusual.” After a moment, he added, “Thank you for telling me.”

“It couldn’t be something one of your imagers was doing, could it?”

“I’ve never heard of something like that, but I’ll certainly check on it.”

“Well … I just thought you should know.”

“Thank you.” Quaeryt smiled, then turned and made his way up the stairs to his quarters, thinking.

A line of ice that broke up into chunks? Abruptly, he recalled that when he’d tried to create a shield out of fog that ice pellets had fallen around him … and he’d always been uncertain about one of the skirmishes in the Boran Hills, right after he’d expanded his shields to deal with pikes. Drizzle had been falling everywhere else, except there had been ice around him. And when he’d imaged lager, the mug had gotten noticeably colder in his hands.

Is there something about greater use of imaging that creates cold, even ice? Why would that be?

He considered. If one put ice in a pot over a fire or on a stove, the heat melted the ice, and if the pot got hot enough, the water turned into steam. Did imaging do the opposite? Did it actually require heat, so that when great imaging was done, things turned much colder where the imaging was accomplished? He’d wondered about that in Extela, but never followed up on it.

How could you test that? With his head still aching, he decided any testing would have to wait … for at least a while.

After resting a bit, Quaeryt spent more time thinking about how he might train imagers to deal with arrows in flight, as well as other drills. Before long, or so it seemed, it was time for dinner.

Later, after the meal, Quaeryt once again acted as a chorister in the small post anomen, pushing back his qualms about it, although he doubted that any local chorister would know or care about what happened inside the gates of a totally military establishment involving an officer. The problem in Extela had been as much that he’d been governor as that he’d acted as a chorister … and that he’d been trying to deal with too many problems at once. Yet what were the alternatives? He almost smiled wryly. The problem was that you didn’t want to accept alternatives that hurt the troopers or the people … and that resulted in High Holders and factors opposing you.

He was almost relieved when he finally began the homily.

“Under the Nameless all evenings are good, even those with the Bovarians a few hundred yards away…”

Quaeryt waited for the smiles to subside, then went on. “In these times, there seems to be a preoccupation with golds, as if golds alone will resolve every problem, provide a solution to every difficulty. But golds themselves seldom solve any problem. Let us think of it in this way. If you are starving and in the middle of a desert or on a raft in the middle of the ocean, can you eat golds? Can you drink golds? If you are in a battle, can you stop a blow from a sabre with a handful of golds? Yes … I’d be the first to admit that, in most cases, golds will buy food or weapons, or many other things, but golds are only a tool. They are one way to obtain the necessities of life, and I’d also be among the first to admit that in most cases, having golds, or silvers, or coppers makes life far, far easier. But we should never forget that golds are a tool, a highly useful tool. How do we obtain golds? If we’re honest, we work for them. Those golds represent our effort. But other things also represent effort, and those other things are sometimes more important than golds. Golds cannot buy courage … or discipline. Those come from within. Golds are bought by skill, courage, or determination, if not all three. For that reason all the things that golds purchase are paid for by someone’s skill, courage, or determination. Gold is merely a way of making the exchange easier … but we tend to forget that, and concentrate on the golds … and not what lies behind them…”

When he finished, he saw Skarpa nod.

That was good … at least until he had to come up with another homily next Solayi.

69

Clang! Clang! Clang!

In the grayness after dawn and before sunrise, Quaeryt had just pulled his boots on when he heard the alarm. He immediately hurried down to the courtyard, looking for Skarpa. He found the commander with the battalion majors gathered around him … and listened as Skarpa issued orders.

“Barges are loaded up at Cleblois. They’re likely heading toward the point. Maybe beyond. Form up your battalions on the road, spaced at quint-mille intervals. First Battalion, take position just south of the south wall. Second Battalion…”

Quaeryt listened as Skarpa gave his directions for spacing out the battalions, then looked to Quaeryt. “Subcommander, take action as you see fit, so long as you don’t put your men directly between the enemy and a battalion about to engage the enemy.”

“Yes, sir.” Quaeryt turned and hurried to a less crowded section of the courtyard where he image-projected his voice. “Imagers! On the double! Mount up and form on me!”

Zhelan appeared even before Quaeryt’s words died away.

“Sir?”

“The imagers will be moving to the bluff on the south side of the post. For now, form up just on the side of the road toward the river to let the other battalions move into place. Once I get the imagers mustered, we’ll see what we can do with the enemy barges.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Imagers aren’t used to discipline, and I haven’t had enough time to make it clear.” Except you should have set up procedures for where to muster if an alarm were sounded and told them what to do. Quaeryt realized that he’d taken for granted all the procedures he’d learned with the regiment, and that he hadn’t instilled all of them in the imager undercaptains. I just hope I survive learning yet another thing I should have thought out earlier.

As he waited impatiently, about to head for the officers’ quarters to roust out the imagers, if they did not appear momentarily, another thought came to him. He couldn’t help but appreciate the irony that, after all the time and effort he’d spent trying to instill and improve skills, they might not even be able to use them because he’d forgotten the elementary point of telling them when to muster and where.

At that moment Shaelyt appeared, still pulling on his uniform shirt as he ran from the junior officers’ quarters, followed by Voltyr and then Desyrk, then the others, although Threkhyl was bringing up the rear.

“Get your horses and mount up right here, as fast as you can! Any time an alarm sounds, this is where we assemble.”

When Shaelyt returned almost immediately and mounted up, Quaeryt was relieved-the ostlers had obviously saddled the imagers’ mounts, for which he was grateful. He made a mental note to thank them personally.

While it seemed as though a glass had passed, little more than a quint after the alarm had sounded, Quaeryt and the six imager undercaptains reined up on the flat just above where Quaeryt had prostrated himself on Solayi. Still in the saddle, Quaeryt peered through the grayness. The barges were still tied at the piers, except for a pilot boat with a guide rope back to the piers. Where had they come from? A stream entering the Ferrean River upstream … or from somewhere concealed even farther north?

From what Quaeryt could determine, the barges contained heavy foot, with spears, since he could see more than a few spear shafts and points protruding above the high sides of the nearer barges. The pilot boat moved slowly toward the middle of the river, propelled by a good twelve men at long oars that resembled sweeps more than oars. The boat then appeared to halt, holding position against the current, as if it had dropped anchor, and the men at the oars stopped stroking.

Why are they waiting? They’ve already lost time for surprise. At the thought of time, Quaeryt stiffened for a moment, then looked to the undercaptains. “Imagers!”

“Sir?”

“At my command, when I call out the word ‘Image!’ you all concentrate on putting holes in the hull of that boat in the middle of the river. Make sure you put the holes in the part of the hull below the water. They need it as