done exactly what Turan had said.
Abivard soon had reason to pride himself on his own predictive powers. Not far from the headwaters of the Tutub, where the stream still flowed swift and foamy over stones before taking a generally calmer course, Maniakes chose a stretch of high ground and made it very plain to his pursuers that he intended to be pursued no more.
«We'll smash him!» Romezan shouted. «We'll smash him and be rid of him once and for all.» After a moment he added, «Won't miss him a bit once he's gone, either.»
«That would be very fine,» Abivard agreed. «The longer I look at that position, though, the more I think we'll come out of it like lamb's meat chopped up for the spit if we're not careful.»
«They're only Videssians,» Romezan said. «It's not as if they're going to come charging down at us while we're advancing on them.»
«No, I suppose not,» Abivard said. «But an uphill charge—and it would be a long uphill charge—doesn't strike with so much force as one on level ground. And if I know anything about Maniakes, it's that he doesn't intend just to sit up there and await our charge. He'll do something to break it up and keep it from hitting as hard as it should.»
«What can he do?» Romezan demanded.
«I don't know,» Abivard said. «I wish I did.»
«And I wish you wouldn't shy at shadows,» Romezan said. «Maniakes is only a man, and soldier for soldier our horsemen are better than his. He can make a river flip—or he could till we figured out how to stop him—but he can't make his whole cursed army leap up in the air and land in our rear and on both flanks at the same time, now, can he?»
«No,» Abivard admitted.
«Well, then,» Romezan said triumphantly, as if he'd proved his point. Maybe he thought he had; he was as straightforward and aggressive in argument as he was in leading his cavalry into action.
Abivard shook his head. «Go straight into battle against the Videssians and you're asking to come to grief. And not all fields are as open and tempting as they look. Remember how Peroz King of Kings died, leading the flower of the soldiery of Makuran against the Khamorth across what looked like an ordinary stretch of steppe. If my horse hadn't stepped in a hole and broken a leg at the very start of that charge, I expect I would have died there, too, along with my father and my brother and three half brothers.»
Romezan scowled but had no quick comeback. Every Makuraner noble family, whether from the Seven Clans or from the lesser nobility, had suffered grievous loss out on the Pardrayan steppe. After that fight how could you argue for a headlong charge and against at least a little caution?
Sanatruq remained impetuous even after Abivard's blunt warning. «What are we going to do, then, lord?» he demanded. «Did we find a way across the canal only to decide we needn't have bothered? If we're not going to fight the Videssians, we might as well have stayed where we were.»
«I never said we weren't going to fight them,» Abivard said. «But don't you think doing it on our terms instead of theirs matters?»
The argument should have been telling. The argument in fact was telling—to Abivard. Romezan let out a sigh. «I should have stayed in the Videssian westlands and sent Kardarigan to you with this part of the field army. The two of you would have got on better than you and I do, both of you being… cautious. But I thought a cautious man better there, where there were towns to guard, and a fighter better here, where there were battles to wage. Maybe I was wrong.»
That hurt. Abivard turned away so Romezan wouldn't see him wince. And had Romezan not been intrepid enough to leave the westlands and disobey Sharbaraz' order against doing it, to say nothing of being intrepid enough to pitch right into the Videssians when he found them, Abivard would have been in no condition to hold this conversation now. Still—
«A baker thinks bread is the answer to every question,» he said, «while a farrier is sure it's horseshoes. No wonder a battler wants to go straight into the fray. But I don't merely want to fight Maniakes—I want to crush him if we can. If thinking things over instead of wading straight in will help us do that, I'd sooner think.»
Romezan's bow was anything but submissive. «There he is,» he said, pointing toward the banner with a gold sunburst on blue that marked the Avtokrator's position. «He's got water right behind him, enough to keep him from getting thirsty but not enough to keep him from going over it if he has to. He's got the high ground. If he doesn't have plenty of food, I'll be amazed and so will you. He's got no reason to move, in other words. If we want him, we have to go at him. He's not going to come to us.»
All those comments were true. Abivard had been studying the ground and said, «Don't you think the slope is less there on his right—our left?»
«If you say so, lord,» Romezan answered, prepared to be magnanimous now that he scented victory. «Do you want the attack to go in on our left? We can do that, of course.»
Abivard shook his head, and that made Romezan and Sanatruq look suspicious again. He said, «I want to make it seem as if the main attack is going in on our left. I want Maniakes to think that and to shift his forces to meet it. But once he's gone for the feint, I want the true attack to come from the right.»
Romezan toyed with one spiky, waxed mustache tip. «Aye, lord, that's good,» he said at last. «We give them something they don't expect that way.»
«And you'll want the foot to hold the center, the way you've been doing lately?» Turan asked.
«Just so,» Abivard agreed. As Romezan was in the habit of doing, the noble from the Seven Clans looked down his considerable nose at the mere mention of infantry. Before taking over the city garrisons Abivard would have done the same thing. He knew what these men were worth, though. They would fight and fight hard. He slapped Turan on the shoulder. «Get them ready.»
«Aye, lord.» His lieutenant hurried away.
Something else occurred to Abivard. «When we move against the Videssians, Romezan, I will command on the left and you on the right.»
Romezan stared at him. «Lord… you would give me the honor of leading the chief attack? I am in your debt, but are you certain you do not damage your own honor with this generosity?»
«The realm comes first,» Abivard said firmly. «Maniakes will see me there on the left. He'll recognize my banners, and he'll likely recognize me, too. When he sees me there, that will make him more certain the division of the army I command will be the one to try to smash him. He will reason as you do, Romezan: how could I give up the place of honor to another? But honor lies in victory, and for victory over the Videssians I gladly give up this superficial honor.»
Romezan bowed very low, as if Abivard were far superior to him in rank. «Lord, you could do worse than instructing the Seven Clans on the nature of honor.»
«To the Void with that. If they want instruction, we've sent them enough Videssian slaves to serve them as pedagogues for the next hundred years. What we have now is a battle to fight.» Abivard stared over toward the distant banners of Videssos that marked the Avtokrator's position. Outwitting Maniakes got trickier every time he tried it, but he'd managed to come up with something new. Like a boy with a new toy, he could hardly wait to try it.
«Let me understand you, lord,» Romezan said. «You will want my men to hang back somewhat and not show their true courage—they should act as if the steepness of the ground troubles them.»
«That's what I have in mind,» Abivard agreed, his earlier quarrel with Romezan almost forgotten. «I'll press the attack on my flank as hard as I can and do everything I know how to do to draw as many Videssians to me as will come. Meanwhile, you, poor fellow, will be having all sorts of trouble—till the right moment comes.»
«I won't be too soon, lord,» Romezan promised. «And you can bet I won't be too late, either.» He sounded very sure of himself.
For the first time since his recall from Across Abivard had a proper Makuraner army, not some slapped- together makeshift, to lead into battle against the Videssians. Since Likinios' overthrow, he'd won whenever he had led a proper army against them. Indeed, they'd fled before him time after time. He eyed his men. They seemed full of quiet confidence. They were used to bearing the Videssians, too.
He rode to the front of the left wing. On this field he wanted his presence widely advertised. Banners blazoned with the red lion of Makuran fluttered all around him. Here I am, the commander of this host, they shouted to the Videssians up on their low rise. I'm going to lead the main attack—of course I am. Pay me plenty of
