have a message.' Drocker sounded far stronger than he had in more than a year.
Else considered the Brotherhood sorcerer warily. He had not known that Drocker was in town. The Brotherhood kept its secrets well.
Drocker continued, 'I came back to find out why the delays continue. It isn't a journey I fancied. I have little stamina anymore. It's past time to begin, gentlemen. The Connecten and Direcian forces have established themselves on Shippen. Hunger flirts with mainland Calzir already. The strategy originally approved by the Holy Father is working perfectly. He has expressed frustration, though, because the next step continues to be delayed. The key group of soldiers remain tied up here.'
Drocker glowered. He dared. The Collegium dreaded him. Everyone feared the Brotherhood of War. Most especially, they feared the displeasure of the Special Office. Not even the Patriarch himself could compel the Brotherhood of War.
'Colonel Hecht, I commend your initiative.' There went the promotion. And here came several new enemies. 'His Holiness has bid me take control of the City Regiment, heeding advice from none but its appointed commander.' Drocker's battered features dared defiance as he surveyed the Principateй.
The Special Office would turn on the Collegium someday. The extinction of sorcery was the fountainhead mission of the Special Office.
Drocker said, 'The Patriarch has decided that all forces raised for the Calziran Crusade will move to Alameddine now. He told me to deal with obstructionism however I see fit.'
Someone tried to raise the point that the city regiment was not a Patriarchal force. Contradicting its specific charter.
Grade Drocker said nothing. His ruined face, intense and cold, was sufficient to close debate. That was real power. More power than Else would have guessed that Drocker possessed.
Else reached the Pateni Persus encampment on a day reported to be unnaturally cold for Alameddine. Snowflakes flashed amongst the drops of misty rain. Snow and ice had begun to accumulate on the peaks of the Vaillarentiglia Mountains for the first time in centuries. Else did not care. He was miserable enough right where he was. He had ridden all day under conditions that had worsened by the minute.
Perhaps what they said about winter in Calzir was no exaggeration.
Else was not eager for a campaign in this, which could only get uglier. But Hansel, Sublime, and Drocker all were eager to follow up on King Peter's successes on Shippen. The weather did not trouble them.
The last few hundred of the city regiment accompanied Else. If Pinkus Ghort had done his job, those in camp already would be ready to move on south.
'They finally ran your ass out of Brothe, eh?' Ghcrt asked when Else arrived, though he saved the familiarity till they were in private. He had set up the regimental headquarters inside a deserted church.
'Drocker came to town. He made them turn me loose. They're mad as hornets, too. But they're mad at Drocker.'
'And that won't do them no fucking good, right?'
'Not even a little. What kind of shape are we in?'
'You won't be unhappy with the troops. Some of the officers, though… My heart wouldn't break if some kind of plague came along that only kills incompetents.'
“Take it up with God. Because you won't get help from any earthly power. I tried three times, with three different gangs of power brokers. I might as well have been speaking Lindrehr from back home. They don't comprehend merit or competence. … Come on. I'm serious. What shape are we in? We're going to move real soon, now.'
'They told you any more about what they want us to do?'
'Everything. I mean, we have to do everything. Like overrun everything west of al-Khazen. While keeping the folks in al-Khazen fixed until the rest of the country has been mopped up. Do we have a movement plan?'
'Thanks to the Deves. They're bringing in some great info. You got something on them?'
'I promised them we'd treat them right. And their Calziran cousins, too. That shouldn't be hard. Should it?'
Ghort shifted uneasily. 'I don't know.'
Ghort's orderly poked his head into the room. 'Captain, there're some Deves out here who say they have to see you and the colonel right now.'
Ghort grumbled, 'Presumptuous assholes. Tell them …'
Else said, 'Hang on. I was going to send for them, anyway.'
'Bring them in, Colon.'
Else asked, 'How are Bo and Just Plain Joe getting on?'
'Believe it or not, they both turned competent on us. Bo makes a good noncom. Bo knows all the scams and angles and heads them off before they start to smell. And Joe is a wizard with animals. He isn't the guy in charge but he's the one who makes things work. The critters stay healthy and fed.'
'Good. I've always thought that everybody has at least one special talent. An officer needs to figure out what, nurture it, and… Hello.'
There were five Deves. Else knew Gledius Stewpo, Shire Spereo, and Titus Consent. The others wore odd clothing and were damp, dirty, and darker than the Brothen Deves. Titus Consent said, 'Our apologies for disturbing you before you've gotten settled, Colonel, but there's important news from al-Khazen.'
So the dusky Deves would be Calziran. 'How bad is it, Titus?'
'Not bad at all. Since we're now forewarned.'
'Well?'
'The sorcerers who ran the pirate campaign have established themselves in al-Khazen. They believe they've done so without being noticed. They're planning a major ambush. They want to lure the Brotherhood into a trap where they can get Grade Drocker. Along with lots of his soldiers.'
Else was impressed. Someone must have been present during a planning session.
'Speak not the Name of the Demon,' Ghort muttered, retailing an adage known in all lands touched by the Instrumentalities of the Night. Meaning in all the lands of the unfrozen earth.
Ghort muttered with cause.
A voice said, 'I hear my name.' Drocker oozed into the room, on crutches. No expression shown on the ruin of his face.
Else said, 'I've just learned that Starkden and Masant al-Seyhan have moved into al-Khazen. They hope to lure us into a trap.' He told Consent, 'Go ahead.'
'There's more to it than that.'
'Of course. Go ahead.' He hoped Consent did not think he could play games with Drocker.
'Starkden and Masant al-Seyhan won't be the only Masters of Ghosts involved. There's another. Our people can't get close, though. We know he exists only by implication. Because there are places no one is allowed to enter.'
One of the Calziran Deves said something. Else could not penetrate the dialect. Consent interpreted. 'The wizard that nobody sees is …' Pause. '… one of me foreigners from overseas.' Pause. 'He came disguised as a foreign soldier.' Pause. 'Mostly Lucidians came to al-Khazen. But also a few engineers and soldiers came from Dreanger.'
Drocker demanded, 'Do I know you, dwarf?'
Gledius Stewpo had been easing his way into deeper shadow. 'I don't think so, sir.' Stewpo laid on an accent Else had not heard before. There was nothing of Sonsa in his voice.
'Perhaps. Yet… it seems I ought to. Never mind. This is interesting. I'm curious. Why did they think they could keep that a secret?' Drocker eyed the Calziran Deves intently, barely controlling his abiding distrust.
Consent posed a question in dialect. The spies responded. He translated, 'The foreign Pramans don't believe any Calziran would betray them to the Patriarch. They made examples of several warlords who offered to acknowledge the Emperor.'
That got right up Sublime's nose. Nobody, anywhere, offered allegiance to the Patriarchy. Which was the case in Direcia and parts of the Connec where Pramans accommodated themselves to Chaldarean rulers.
Consent continued to translate. 'There is also a sorcery on al-Khazen that conceals most of the foreign
