Warlord

You could see how she had captivated a younger Barholm; it took a closer acquaintance to understand how she had maintained that hold, gone from kept courtesan to official mistress to Church-wedded wife, despite all the cries of scandal and political liability. Raj remembered her on the Plaza Balcony, during the riots, standing calmly and looking down at the sea of upturned faces; he had stood beside her, in an agony of indecision over whether he should force her within. Then she had raised her glass to the crowd and laughed, while torches and bricks fell short and the occasional bullet spanged off the ornamental stonework.

She'd smiled at him then, too, as she turned and walked back into the dubious safety of the Palace. Smiled, and said: 'I always did perform best with an enthusiastic audience.' Laughing at the shock on his face. . She was a very good friend of Raj's wife, Suzette, who was still the only lady of rank who would receive her. Raj suspected that social blockade would be broken with a ruthlessness even greater than that of the society matrons, when Barholm ascended his uncle's Chair. There were weapons sharper than a snub, and Anne would have no hesitation whatsoever in using them.

'Lady Anne,' he murmured. This was a semi-formal occasion; greetings went from most junior to the second-senior present. Then to the others, the men with formal power: 'General Klostermann.' Commander of Eastern Forces, the second-most important field command. Commander of Residence Area Forces was the most important, of course. Which was why the Vice-Governor kept it firmly in his own hands. 'Chancellor Tzetzas.' Lidded eyes and perfect courtesy. 'Captain Stanson.' A brisk nod. 'And Delegate Hortanz.' The hired diplomat of the Halvardi.

Servants ghosted in, set out trays of wine, kave, nibblements on trays, left with the silent self-effacement of the Palace staff. A military aide brought the big relief-map and spread it out on the table; such were a priceless asset of the Civil Government's military, rivaled only in the Colony and unknown elsewhere.

'Well, there it is,' General Klostermann said sourly, when Barholm had nodded the meeting open for business. He was a middle-aged man, weathered by the savage winters and summer heat of his command. There were deep crinkles beside the slanted hazel eyes that looked out the gallery windows, down into a courtyard of fountains and flowerbeds. 'Tewfik's closer to the Halvardi than I am, and they've got the farmlands around Lake Quofur to draw on. He can reinforce and we can't, and that's the truth. If we'd kept the roads up better. .'

Tzetzas frowned. 'General,' he said quietly, 'the Civil Government's resources are limited, though one would wish otherwise. One inquires if the distinguished general would prefer to have roads and no pay for his troops?'

'That's late often enough,' Klostermann said. 'My lord.' Turning to Barholm, 'Your Exaltedness, perhaps we could send the Halvardi a subsidy; arms, maybe, or some engineering officers to fortify the passes?'

Barholm leaned back and sipped moodily at his kave. He looked down at the cup, blinked. 'No, we don't want to make the Halvardi stronger, we want to keep them dependent on us. Klostermann, surely we could send something in the way of troops?'

'Ah, your Exaltedness. . well, perhaps a couple of companies of Daud's Dragoons?'

Tzetzas laughed. 'One is confident they would feel at home, being mostly barbarians themselves.'

The general visibly forced himself not to scowl at the Chancellor, who was not a safe man to antagonize. 'They may be irregulars, but they can ride and shoot.'

'Not fast enough to stop the sort of force Tewfik will bring,' Stanson said, prodding at the map.

'Ah, if something could be sent, relations with the Halvardi could be improved considerably,' Delegate Hortanz said. He made a refined gesture. 'In which case, the, ahh, subsidy for this year could be forgone. . perhaps distributed to worthier causes?' His eyes crossed Chancellor Tzetzas', a byplay lost on none of the others.

Raj looked down at the map. It showed the eastern portions of the Midworld Sea and the western provinces of the Colony, the lands of civilization. The Civil Government held the thumb-shaped peninsula on the northeastern shore, and areas to the north and south; they shaded out into vaguely tributary provinces inhabited mostly by tribal peoples. The mapmaker had been remarkably optimistic; the Skinners, for example, were listed as 'vassal tribes.'

Outer Dark, they have enough trouble getting on with each other, he thought. To business. The southern edge of the peninsula ended in the Oxhead Mountains, running inland from the sea to the deserts and the headwaters of the Drangosh; the fortress-city of Sandoral stood at the head of navigation. Southward and eastward were the deserts. Colonial lands, centering on the rich irrigated districts of Drangosh delta and the city of Al-Kebir. Rich and anciently civilized, the first parts of Bellevue to be settled.

observe.

* * *

Center's holograms overlaid the map with other projections: force ratios, roads and their conditions, march- times.

tewfik will also find it difficult to shift forces to the northeast, Center continued. A line traced up from Al-Kebir, then east into the rocky highlands of Gederosia and north through difficult country to the great oasis around Lake Quofur. it will strain their grain and dogmash supplies, and the heavy ordnance is in their capital, tewfik's own army of the south is still near hammamet, resting and refitting from the zanj wars.

'Ahh, my lord?' Raj said. Barholm looked up quickly. 'My lord, it occurs to me that we're reacting to what the Colony threatens. We should be making them react to us.'

Raj was uneasily conscious of Tzetzas' level gaze, of the throttled impatience of Klostermann, like a hard knot in his stomach. To the Outer Dark with Klostermann, he thought. He hasn't won so much as a skirmish in twenty years. Few Governors wanted too able a general in command of so many experienced and mobile troops.

'Tell us something that the manuals don't,' the general said.

'Well, to secure the Halvardi passes, Tewfik would have to bring up most of their field army from the lower Drangosh, and then call out the amirs and their ghazis along the way through Gederosia.' That was tough highland country, much like Descott, and contributed soldiers rather than taxes to the Settler. 'Then they'd link up with the garrison forces around Lake Quofur and move west. . and if they did take the passes, it'd put them in a position to move on Novy Haifa.' His finger tapped the map at the extreme northeast corner of the peninsula, where the coastline turned north to form the eastern shore of Pierson's Sea.

Tzetzas winced slightly; Raj remembered that the Chancellor's family had tobacco plantations in the area, and interests in the grain and hide trade up into the steppe country. Barholm nodded.

'Well, how do we stop them?'

'We make them afraid of an invasion by us,' Raj said, keeping his features immobile and cursing the sheen of sweat on his forehead.

For a moment Raj could not tell whose objections were making the most noise; Barholm pounded a fist on the table for silence, and glared at the young Guardsman in the quiet that followed. 'Are you serious, Whitehall?' he asked. 'I took you into the guard because you could think, not because I wanted a hillman fireater.'

Raj swallowed. 'Perfectly serious, my lord. I didn't say we should invade the Colony: I said we should make them think that we're going to.'

He looked down at the map again, blinking. It was still a little unsettling, seeing the physical reality of the parchment overlain with the shining colored lights of Center's projection, moving unit-counters to Raj's command and finger-tip.

'First, we tie down the Colonist forces in the northeast.'

'How?' Klostermann said sharply.

Raj looked up, and smiled with an expression copied from the Chancellor's cool malice. 'Bribe the Skinners,' he said flatly. Barholm grunted in interest and leaned forward, his eyes locked on the map. 'And the Halvardi, to let them through. It's going on for harvest in the Quofur country, good pickings. . ten thousand gold FedCreds ought to do it, to the Shefdetowt of the Bekwa and Traryvier tribes. That'll bring a couple of thousand warriors down from the steppe at least; or we could give part of it in powder, shot, and cartridges, even better.'