Warlord

excellent red wine-and handed the rest to Gerrin. Let all my officers be peace-holy and none of us drunk, he thought ironically. Still, by all accounts most Squadron members actually put some store in this sort of thing. With a Stalwart, say, you knew an oath was the time to look out for the hidden knife; their favorite sport was fratricide.

Bellamy blinked solemn pouched eyes, sad as a hound's in their nests of cheek-beard and bushy eyebrow.

'We must speak,' he said. None of the retainers objected aloud when a squad and Gerrin Staenbridge accompanied the two leaders, or when another squad sealed off the door behind them. Bellamy led the way through shadowed corridors of faded magnificence and gaudy splendor to a small room. He glanced at Staenbridge.

'This man is my kinsman and right arm,' Raj said. True enough: They were fourth cousins or something of that sort. Every gentry family in the County was related somehow, just as every one had a vendetta or two if you went back far enough.

Bellamy nodded slowly. 'I will not snipe with words,' he said. 'Admiral Auburn is no friend of mine. The Bellamys were kin to old Admiral Tonbridge. He would not have sent our best men away when war threatened!'

Actually, he was an even bigger idiot than the present one, Raj thought. Also the old Admiral's mother had been a very minor relation of the previous Gubernatorial family in East Residence, sent to the barbaricum as a maiden sacrifice to the gods of diplomacy. Many Squadron nobles had thought him too influenced by his mother, and suspected-quite rightly-that he leaned to the Spirit of Man of the Stars. The change of dynasties was one of the official causi belli, not that it mattered. A bit ironic coming from the equally usurping Cleretts. .

'The Auburns are usurpers,' Raj nodded. 'The Spirit will not favor a usurper in war.'

'You promise-' Bellamy began, stroking his beard. 'You promise those who swear to you keep their lands?'

'Yes,' Raj said firmly. 'Minus one-third for the Civil Government.' Bellamy winced, but it was better than losing everything and being sold to the mines. 'Just as I promise oblivion for those who resist. The Civil Government would rather have you as loyal subjects-we can use your fighting men, for one thing-but if I have to grind you into dog meat to pacify these Territories, I will do it.'

Bellamy's thick-fingered hands twisted at each other, and sweat broke out on his ridged forehead.

'So you say, Messer General. Yet you will not be king here-will the next Vice Governor abide by your word?'

A good question. Once the Civil Government was firmly in charge, a reversal of policy would be nearly impossible to resist.

'Probably. I'm privy to Governor Barholm's War Council, and the policy is to conciliate where possible. We want to rule stable and productive lands, not put down rebellions every other year. And the Southern Territories are a long way from East Residence. . I'll not mince words; you'll find our taxes hard-Spirit knows, most of us do-and we'll probably see that a lot of your young men see military service elsewhere, on the Colonial frontier, for example; but that's not altogether bad. We don't hold a gentleman's origins against him in the Army'-much-'and your sons, for example, could go far as officers. Perhaps on my staff. .

'The rest of you will be disarmed, at least at first. In return you'll get stable government, peace, and prosperity.'

Bellamy leaned forward. 'These are good words. But what of your Church? What of the Viral Cleansers?'

Raj winced slightly. 'Well, that is something of a problem-especially given the way you've treated members of our faith. Certainly the church properties will have to be restored. I can only say that my policy will be tolerance, and the civil administrator appointed to follow me thinks likewise. As long as you don't try to proselytize or worship in public. . Not one in a hundred of the people here is a This Earth follower, anyway. Those who want to rise in the Army or at Court will have to embrace orthodoxy, of course.'

Bellamy hunched back in his chair, covering his eyes with one hand; after a moment Raj was startled to see silent tears trickling down into the bushy beard.

'I must preserve my sons' heritage,' he whispered hoarsely in his own language. 'I cannot destroy the Bellamy line for Auburn's folly. . '

Suddenly his face froze in Raj's sight; lines and patterns moved across it. The mottled image hung imposed over the living man, then jumped toward the general in silent leaps. Arrows sprang out around it, indicating the pupils and the pattern of coloration.

stress analysis indicates subject bellamy is sincere, Center said, probability 96 % ± 2 %.

'You speak honestly, like an honorable man. I will swear,' Bellamy said. 'Fetch my sons! They too will swear to you!' He rose and then fell to his knees.

Raj stood and awkwardly took the noble's hands between his, stumbling through the ritual of allegiance; this was not the time to explain the difference between swearing loyalty to an individual and to the State. All the same, it's lucky nobody but Gerrin is here. Put the wrong way, this could be sticky back in East Residence. Ceremony complete, Bellamy went over to a desk whose grace and sauroid- ivory inlays were incongruous beside his bulk. When he turned there was a sheaf of papers in his hands.

'Admiral Auburn has summoned the war host,' the Squadron commander said, all business and flat impersonal tones now. 'He attacks tomorrow, thus-'

* * *

'So the city garrison, under Commodore Conner Auburn, the Admiral's youngest brother, will sortie south down the coast road. Twelve thousand men, give or take a thousand.'

Raj looked up, across the circle of officers grouped around the map table, under the swaying lantern. It was 0330; some of them were bleary-eyed, others gulping kave or gnawing on bannocks. There was sand under his eyelids as well, and sleep was a distant memory of childhood. Seventy thousand men were in motion, barbarian and Civil Government, like huge ponderous pieces of machinery in a big steam engine. His mind felt like that too, like machined shapes of iron and brass whirring and camming in oiled precision; everything was bright-edged and clear.

'They're expecting to hit us around noon-which means they're probably leaving Port Murchison around now. Conner Auburn's a hothead even by Squadron standards, so I expect the ones on the best dogs to arrive first and the rest to straggle. Major Staenbridge, I'm sending you with the 5th and the 7th'-the 5th was overstrength, so that meant fourteen hundred men, and very good ones-'and two batteries, six guns, to meet him around-' His finger stabbed down on the coast road about halfway to Port Murchison. '-here. Get there early; otherwise I leave the details to your discretion, but don't get out of reach or let them flank you. Bloody their noses and fall back on the base here if they press you-fire and movement.'

'Understood, sir.' Gerrin rotated his shoulders, frowning at the map and unconsciously flexing the heavy muscles like a plowman looking at the field and preparing for a day's job of work.

'The next element of the enemy's plan,' Raj went on, 'is a diversionary attack by two thousand picked cavalry-some of Admiral Auburn's household troops-coming in from our west and planning to hit us around 1000 hours and make us face front west while the other forces approach from north and south. I've sent the Scout Group of the 5th to get their exact position, and Master Sergeant da Cruz to get the Skinners moving to block them.'

Raj's finger moved south until it was below the Expeditionary Force's original landing site, then moved north parallel to the line of march but farther from the coast.

'Admiral Auburn has been sweeping up from Sefex'-the southernmost city on the Territories' east coast-'calling out the home-levy of the Squadron, plus anyone who's managed to get out of our way and run southwest. He has the remainder of his household guards, fifteen hundred men, and whatever he's been able to rally: at least thirty thousand, perhaps forty.' Or possibly more; they're likely to answer the call whole- hearted, with us here burning and killing.

There were grunts around the table; Raj's expression might have been called a smile, by someone who did not look too closely.

'They'll have all the unit coordination of a street brawl after a racetrack meet-but don't forget. They're fighting on the doorsteps of their homes, for their families and Church and the graves of their fathers.