Abivard bowed low as he sat, bending almost double. He would never see a silver shield shining across a narrow sea if he remained commander in the land of the Thousand Cities. «I may have been wrong,» he said humbly. «There may be some use to foretelling, after all. Knowing I will see what was foretold lets me bear up under insults meanwhile.»
«Under some insults, for some time, certainly,» Roshnani replied. «But Tanshar didn't say when you would see these things. You're a young man still; it might be thirty years from now.»
«It might be,» Abivard agreed. «I don't think it is, though. I think it's connected to the war between Makuran and Videssos. That's what everything about it has seemed to mean. When it comes, whatever it ends up meaning, it will decide the war, one way or the other.» He held up a hand, palm out «I don't know that for a fact, but I think it's true even so.»
«All right,» Roshnani said. «You should also know you're going back to the land of the Thousand Cities for a while, because you didn't see the battle Bogorz' scrying showed you.»
«That's true; I didn't,» Abivard admitted. «Or I don't think I did, anyhow. I don't remember seeing it» The frown gave way to a sheepish laugh. «Is it a true prophecy if it happens but no one notices?»
«Take that one to the Videssians,» Roshnani said. «They'll spend so much time arguing over it, they won't be ready to invade us when the campaigning season starts.»
By her tone of voice, she was only half joking. From his time spent among the Videssians, Abivard thoroughly understood that If a problem admitted of two points of view, some Videssians would take the one and some the other, as far as he could tell for the sake of disputation. And if a problem admitted of only one point of view, some Videssians would take that and some the other, again for the sake of disputation.
Roshnani said, «If we understand the prophecies rightly, you'll beat Maniakes in the land of the Thousand Cities. If you don't beat him there, you won't have the chance to go back into the Videssian westlands and draw near Videssos the city, now, will you?»
«I don't see how I would, anyhow,» Abivard said. «But then, I don't see everything there is to see, either.»
«Do you see that for once you worry too much?» Roshnani said. «Do you see that?»
Abivard held up his hand again, and she stopped. Genuine curiosity in his voice, he said, «Could Sharbaraz have ordered me slain last winter? Could I have died with the prophecies unfulfilled? What would have happened if he'd given the order? Could the headsman have carried it out?»
«There's another question the Videssians would exercise themselves over for years,» Roshnani answered. «All I can tell you is that I not only don't know, I'm glad we didn't have to find out. If you have to hope for a miracle to save yourself, you may not get it.»
«That's true enough,» Abivard said. The children's game broke down in a multisided squabble raucous enough to make him get up and restore order. He kept on wondering, though, all the rest of the day.
VIII
If you were going to be in the land of the Thousand Cities, the very beginning of spring was the time to do it. The weather hadn't yet grown unbearably hot, the flies and mosquitoes weren't too bad, and a steady breeze from the northwest helped blow smoke away from the cities instead of letting it accumulate in foglike drifts, as could happen in the still air of summer.
Beroshesh, the city governor of Nashvar, did a magnificent job of concealing his delight at Abivard's return. «Are you going to flood us out again?» he demanded, and then, remembering his manners, added, «Lord?»
«I'll do whatever needs doing to drive the Videssians from the domain of Sharbaraz King of Kings, may his years be many and his realm increase,» Abivard answered. Casually, he asked, «Have you heard the news? Sharbaraz' principal wife is with child, and the wizards believe it will be a boy.»
«Congratulations are due her, I'm sure, but why do you—?» Beroshesh stopped the rather offhanded question as he remembered who Sharbaraz' principal wife was and what relation she held to Abivard. When he spoke again, his tone was more conciliatory: «Of course, lord, I shall endeavor to conform to any requirements you may have of me.»
«I knew you would,» Abivard lied politely. Then, finding a truth he could tell, he went on, «Turan and Tzikas both tell me you have done well in keeping the army supplied through the winter.»
«Even with the ravages of the Videssians, the land of the Thousand Cities remains rich and fertile,» Beroshesh said. «We had no trouble supplying the army's wants.»
«So I heard, and as I say, I'm glad of it,» Abivard told him. The floodplain was indeed rich and fertile if, even after all the damage it had suffered through the previous year, it still yielded surplus enough to feed the army on top of the peasantry.
«What do you expect Maniakes to do this season?» Beroshesh asked. «Will he come here at all? Will he come from north or south or straight out of the east?»
«Good question,» Abivard said enthusiastically, making as if to applaud. «If you should have a good answer for it, please let me know. Whichever way he comes, though, I'll fight him. Of that I'm sure.» He hesitated. «Fairly sure.» He couldn't know for certain the scrying Bogorz had shown him would come to pass in this campaigning season, but that did seem to be the way to bet.
Beroshesh said, «Lord, you have been fighting this Maniakes for many years. Do you not know in your mind what will be in bis?»
That was a legitimate question. In fact, it was better than a legitimate question; it was a downright clever question. Abivard gave it the careful thought it deserved before answering, «My best guess is that he'll do whatever he doesn't think we'll expect him to do. Whether that means setting out from Lyssaion again or picking a new way to get at us, I can't really tell, I fear. Trying to fathom the way Videssians think is like looking into several mirrors reflecting one from another, so that after a while what's reflection and what's real blur together.»
«If the God be kind, the barbarians who infest his—southern—frontier, is it?» Beroshesh hesitated.
«Northern frontier,» Abivard said, not unkindly. There was no reason for a city governor to have any clear notion of Videssian geography, especially for the lands on the far side of the imperial capital.
«Yes, the northern frontier. Thank you, lord. If they were to attack Maniakes, he could hardly assail us here and defend against them at the same time, could he?»
«It's not something I'd want to try, I'll tell you that,» Abivard said. «Yes, the God would be kind if he turned the Kubratoi—that's what the barbarians call themselves—loose on Videssos again. The only trouble is, Maniakes beat them badly enough to make them thoughtful about having another go at him.»
«Pity,» Beroshesh murmured. He clapped his hands loudly. «How much you know about these distant peoples! Surely you and they must have worked together closely when you forced your way to the very end of the Videssian westlands.»
«I wish we would have,» Abivard said. No, Beroshesh didn't know much about how the Empire of Videssos was made and how it operated. «But Videssos the city, you see, kept the Kubratoi from crossing over to join us, and the Videssian navy not only kept us from going over the Cattle Crossing to lay siege to the city, it also kept the Kubratoi from going over to the westlands in the boats they make. Together, we might have crushed Videssos, but Maniakes and his forces and fortress held us apart.»
«Pity,» Beroshesh said again. He pointed to a silver flagon. «More wine?»
It was date wine. «No, thank you,» Abivard said. He would drink a cup for politeness' sake but had never been fond of the cloying stuff.
Quite seriously Beroshesh asked, «Could you not put your soldiers on barges and in skin boats and cross this Cattle Crossing without the Videssians' being the wiser till you appeared on the far shore?»
Beroshesh had never seen the sea, never seen a Videssian war galley. Abivard remembered that as he visualized a fleet of those swift, maneuverable, deadly galleys descending on rafts and round skin boats trying to make their way over the Cattle Crossing. He saw in his mind's eye rams sending some of them to the bottom and dart-throwers and fire-throwers wrecking many more. He might get a few men across alive, but even fewer in any
