'Who was the commander of the vanguard?' I asked.
'Labienus,' said he, 'of this city.'
'And his first subaltern?' I asked.
'I do not know,' he said. 'I was not of the vanguard.'
'Who commanded the 17th?' I asked.
'I do not remember,' he said.
'Vinicius?' I said.
'Yes,' he said. 'Vininius.'
'And the 11th?'
'I do not know,' he said.
'Toron, of Venna,' I said.
'Yes,' he said. 'Toron, of Venna.'
'In which command were you?'
'In the 14th,' he said.
'Who commanded the 14th?'
'Honorius.'
'And his first subaltern?'
'Falvius.'
'His second?'
'Camillus.'
'You were with the 14th then when it was defeated in the northern tracts of the delta?'
'Yes,' he said.
'With the 7th, the 11th and the 9th?'
'Yes,' he said.
I then removed the armband with the delka on it and tucked it in my belt. I then tore loose a part of his tunic and thrust it in his mouth. I then tied it in place with the armband. His eyes regarded me, questionably, over it, frightened. I then crossed his ankles, causing him to fall, and tied them together, crossed. He tried, ineffectually, to speak. He tried to sit up but I thrust him back, my sandal on his chest, supine on the pavement, and looked down at him. He looked up at me. He was as helpless as a slave girl.
'Vicinius,' I said, 'did not command the 17th, nor Toron the 11th. Vicinius commanded the 4th, and Toron the 3rd. Your answers with respect to the chain of command in the 14th were correct, but the 14th was not defeated in the northern tracts, but in the southern tracts, with the 7th, 9th and 11th. It was the 3rd, the 4th and the 17th which were defeated in the north.'
He struggled, futilely.
'He is a Cosian spy,' I said.
Men cried out in fury.
The prisoner, now truly a prisoner, looked up at us, terrified. He tried to rise up a little, to lift his shoulders from the pavement, but angry staffs thrust him back down, and in a moment he was kept in place, on his back on the pavement, pinioned by staffs, some caging him at the sides, others pressing down upon him.
'Bring a sack,' I said. 'Put him in it.'
'We shall bring one,' said a fellow.
'Let it be a sack such as we use for tarsk meat,' said another.
'Yes,' said another.
'We will hang it with the meat,' said a fellow. 'In that way it will attract little notice.'
'And we shall beat it well with our staffs,' said a fellow, grimly, 'as we tenderize the sacked meat of tarsks.'
'That is fitting,' laughed a fellow.
'That, too, will attract little attention,' said another.
'We will break every bone in his body,' said another.
'In the morning see that it is found on the steps of the Central Cylinder.'
'It will be so,' said a fellow.
'And on the sack,' I said, 'let there be inscribed a delka.'
'It will be so!' laughed a man.
In moments a sack was brought and the fellow, his eyes wild, was thrust, bound and gagged, into it. I then saw it tied shut over his head, and saw it being dragged behind two peasants toward the far side of the market, to the area where the butchers and meat dressers have their stalls.
'What if he survives?' asked Marcus.
'I hope he does,' I said. 'I think his broken bones, his bruises, his blood, his groans, his gibbering, his accounts of what occurred, his terror, such things, would better serve the Delta Brigade than this death.'
'It is for that reason that you have sparred him?' he asked.
'Not only that,' I said. 'He seemed a nice fellow, and he did know the chain of command in the 14th.'
'With you,' said Marcus, 'it is a game, but it is not so with certain others.'
'You are referring to the two fellows who were found hung in an alley, near a tavern in the Anbar district?' I asked.
'Yes, with bloody delkas cut into their chests,' he said.
'I heard of it, too,' I said.
'It is speculated they were attempting to infiltrate the Delta Brigade.'
'Interesting,' I said.
'I fear there may actually be a Delta Brigade,' he said.
'I do not know,' I said. 'But I, too, think that it is possible.'
'Did you discern the support of the crowd for the Delta Brigade?' he asked. 'Yes,' I said. 'And so, too, did the mercenaries.'
'And the spy,'
'Of course,' I said. 'Let us hope he lives to make a report on the matter.'
'And, further, their support for the delta veterans?'
'Yes,' I said. 'They were much in support of the spy when he claimed to be such.'
'That is very different from a few months ago,' said Marcus.
'Only lately has Ar become aware of what those men did for her, what they suffered, and how much she owes them.'
'Better led they could have turned back Cos at the Vosk and stopped her at Torcadino,' he said.
'You see what the Cosians here must now do, do you not?' I asked.
'What?' he asked.
'At this stage of the game?'
'What?'
'They must attempt to discredit the Delta Brigade.'
'Of course,' said Marcus.
'But no longer by identifying it with the veterans of the delta,' I said. 'Why not?' he asked.
'Because of the popular support now rising in favor of the veterans,' I said. 'Seremides no doubt links the Delta Brigade with the veterans of the delta, and perhaps on the whole correctly, but he is clever enough to recognize that the popularity of the actions of the Delta Brigade has increased support for the veterans. He must now attempt to drive a wedge between the veterans and the Delta Brigade.'
In what fashion?' asked Marcus.
'It is not obvious?' I asked.
'Speak,' said Marcus.
'Seremides needs something, or someone, to dissociate the Delta Brigade from the veterans.'
'Continue,' said Marcus.
'He desires to turn the population away from the Delta Brigade.'
'Yes?'
'Therefore the Delta Brigade must be presented as inimical to Ar, as the tool of her enemies.'
