His tone was not so hostile as earlier, and Cordelia ventured, “Do you suppose Aral is in Hassadar by now?” She could not quite bring herself to say, Do you suppose he ever made it to Hassadar?
“He’ll have been and gone by now.”
“I thought he would raise its garrison.”
“Raise and disperse, in a hundred different directions. And which squad has the Emperor? Vordarian won’t know. But with luck, that traitor will be lured into occupying Hassadar.”
“Luck?”
“A small but worthy diversion. Hassadar has no strategic value to speak of for either side. But Vordarian must divert a part of his—surely finite number of—loyal troops to hold it, deep in a hostile territory with a long guerilla tradition. We’ll get good intelligence of everything they do there, but the population will be opaque to them.
“And it’s my capital. He occupies a count’s district capital with Imperial troops—all my brother counts must pause and think about that one. Am I next? Aral probably went on to Tanery Base Shuttleport. He must open an independent line of communication with the space-based forces, if Vordarian has truly choked off Imperial Headquarters. The spacers’ choice of loyalties will be critical. I predict a severe outbreak of technical difficulties in their comm rooms, while the ship commanders scramble to figure out which is going to be the winning side.” Piotr emitted a macabre chuckle, in the shadows. “Vordarian is too young to remember Mad Emperor Yuri’s War. Too bad for him. He’s gained sufficient advantage, with his quick start, I’d loathe to grant him more.”
“How fast … did it all happen?”
“Fast. There was no hint of any trouble when I was up to the capital at noon. It must have broken out right after I left.”
A chill that had nothing to do with the rain fell between them briefly, as both remembered why Piotr had made that journey this day.
“Does the capital … have great strategic value?” Cordelia asked, changing the subject, unwilling to break open that raw issue again.
“In some wars it would. Not this one. This is not a war for territory. I wonder if Vordarian realizes that? It’s a war for loyalties, for the minds of men. No material object in it has more than a passing tactical importance. Vorbarr Sultana is a communications center, though, and communication is much. But not the only center. Collateral circulation will serve.”
We have no communications at all, thought Cordelia dully. Out here in the woods in the rain. “But if Vordarian holds the Imperial Military Headquarters right now… “
“What he holds right now, unless I miss my guess, is a very large building full of chaos. I doubt a quarter of the men are at their posts, and half of them are plotting sabotage to benefit whatever side they secretly favor. The rest are out running for cover, or trying to get their families out of town.”
“Will Captain Vorpatril be all—will Vordarian bother Lord and Lady Vorpatril, do you think?” Alys Vorpatril’s pregnancy was very close to term. When she had visited Cordelia at ImpMil—only ten days ago?—her gliding walk had become a heavy flatfooted waddle, her belly a swaying high arc. Her doctor promised her a big boy. Ivan, he was to be named. His nursery was completely equipped and fully decorated, she had groaned, shifting her stomach uncomfortably in her lap, and now would be a good time… .
Now was not a good time anymore. “Padma Vorpatril will head the list. The hunt will be up for him, all right. He and Aral are the last descendants of Prince Xav, now, if anybody’s fool enough to start up that damned succession-debate again. Or if anything does happen to Gregor.” He bit down on this last line as if he might hold back fate with his teeth. “Lady Vorpatril and the baby, too?”
“Perhaps not Alys Vorpatril. The boy, definitely.” Not exactly a separable matter, just at the moment. The wind had died down at last. Cordelia could hear the horses’ teeth tearing up plants, a steady munch-munch- munch.
“Won’t the horses show up on thermal sensors? And us, too, despite dumping our power cells. I don’t see how they can miss us for long.” Were troops up there right now, eyes in the clouds?
“Oh, all the people and beasts in these hills will show up on their thermal sensors, once they start aiming them in the right direction.”
“All? I hadn’t seen any.”
“We’ve passed about twenty little homesteads, so far tonight. All the people, and their cows, and their goats, and their red deer, and their horses, and their children. We’re straws in a haystack. Still, it will be well for us to split up soon. If we can make it to the trail at the base of Amie Pass before mid—morning, I have an idea or two.” By the time Bothari shoved her back atop Rose, the deep blackness was greying. Pre-dawn light seeped into the woods as they began to move again. Tree branches were charcoal stokes in the dripping mist. She clung to her saddle in silent misery, towed along by Bothari. Gregor actually still slept, for the first twenty minutes of the ride, openmouthed and limp and pale in Piotr’s grip.
The growing light revealed the night’s ravages. Bothari and Esterhazy were both muddy and scuffed, beard-peppered, their brown-and-silver uniforms rumpled. Bothari, having given up his jacket to Gregor, went in shirtsleeves. The open round collar of his shirt made him look like a condemned criminal being led to the beheading-block. Piotr’s general’s dress greens had survived fairly well, but his stubbled red-eyed face above it was like a derelict’s. Cordelia felt herself a hopeless tangle, with her wet tendrils of hair, mishmash of old clothing and house slippers. It could be worse. I could still be pregnant. At least if I die, I die singly now. Was little Miles safer than she right now? Anonymous in his replicator on some shelf in Vaagen and Henri’s restricted laboratory? She could pray so, even if she couldn’t believe so. You Barrayaran bastards had better leave my boy alone.
They zigzagged up a long slope. The horses blew like bellows even though just walking: getting balky, stumbling over roots and rocks. They came to a halt at the bottom of a little hollow. Both horses and people drank from the murky stream. Esterhazy loosened girths again. He scratched under the horses’ headbands, and they butted against him, nuzzling his empty pockets for tidbits. He murmured apologies and little encouragements to them. “It’s all right, Rosie, you can rest at the end of the day. Just a few more hours.” It was more briefing than anybody had bothered to give Cordelia.
Esterhazy left the horses to Bothari and accompanied” Piotr into the woods, scrabbling up the slope. Gregor busied himself in an attempt to gather vegetation and hand-feed it to the animals. They lipped at the native Barrayaran plants and let them fall messily from their mouths, unpalatable. Gregor kept picking the wads up and offering them again, trying to shove them in around the horses’ bits.
“What’s the Count up to, do you know?” Cordelia asked Bothari.
He shrugged. “Gone to make contact with somebody. This won’t do.” A jerk of his head in no particular direction indicated their night of beating around in the brush.
Cordelia could only agree. She lay back and listened for lightflyers, but heard only the babble of water in the little stream, echoed by the gurgles of her empty stomach. She was galvanized into motion once, to keep the hungry Gregor from sampling some of the possibly-toxic plants himself.
“But the horses ate these ones,” he protested.
“No!” Cordelia shuddered, detailed visions of unfavorable biochemical and histamine reactions dancing in a molecular crack-the-whip through her head. “It’s one of the first habits you have to learn for Betan Astronomical Survey, you know. Never put strange things in your mouth till they’ve been cleared by the lab. In fact, avoid touching your eyes, mouth, and mucous membranes.”
Gregor, unconsciously compelled, promptly rubbed his nose and eyes. Cordelia sighed, and sat back down. She sucked on her tongue, thinking about that stream water and hoping Gregor wouldn’t point out her inconsistency. Gregor threw pebbles into the pools.
Fully an hour later, Esterhazy returned. “Come on.” They merely led the horses this time, sure sign of a steep climb to come. Cordelia scrambled, and scraped her hands. The horses’ haunches heaved. Over the crest, down, up again, and they came out on a muddy double trail carved through the forest.
“Where are we?” asked Cordelia.
“Aime Pass Road, Milady,” supplied Esterhazy.
“This is a road?” Cordelia muttered in dismay, staring up and down it. Piotr stood a little way off, with another old man holding the reins of a sturdy little black-and-white horse.
The horse was considerably better groomed than the old man. Its white coat was bright and its black coat shiny Its mane and tail were brushed to feather-softness. Its feet and fetlocks were wet and dark, though, and its
