Warlord

'Forever, O Star Spirit!'

'As we believe, so let Thy Holy Federation be restored in our time, O Spirit of Man of the Stars; and if the burden of a faithless generation's sin be too great, may our souls be received into the Net. Endfile.'

'Endfile!' The troops relaxed.

'My children,' the priest continued, 'the Honorable Captain Whitehall has graciously allowed compulsory unit purgation of sins, as of 20:00 hours tomorrow.' There were a few subdued groans; that meant penances, usually fasting. 'The Spirit be with you.' A mumbled chorus of and in thy soul followed.

'Master Sergeant da Cruz,' Raj said, his face more impassive than the priest's had been in the midst of the liturgy.

'Ser!' A Descott man of the old breed, this one, brick-built and hook-nosed and dark. He moved easily; one of the fast heavy men, rare and dangerous. About thirty-five, a decade older than the Captain. A finger missing from his left hand, and shrapnel scars all down the right side of his face. It drew his lips up into a slight perpetual sneer, but there was a hint of a smile in it now.

'Carry on as ordered, Master Sergeant.'

'Battalion, attention t' orders,' he bellowed, turning to face the men. Their ranks were a series of rectangular clumps in the gathering darkness; firelight from the windows of the rest station and the campfires of the 2nd picked out a detail here and there. Oily gleam from the chainmail neck guard of a helmet, light from a buckle or the bronze buttons of their blue coats, eyes, the teeth of the wardogs. 'Battalion will encamp.' A grin, made ghastly by the pulling effect of the scar. 'Full kit inspection at 0600 tomorrow. Workin' party, report to me as instructed. Dismissed!'

'Inspection?' one of the Company commanders remarked, as they dismounted and handed their reins to their batmen. He stripped off his gloves and smoothed the kidskin; there was a shimmerstone stud in one ear as well. Kaltin Gruder, Raj thought, prompted by some internal filing system. Just in from Descott two years ago. Bit of a dandy. Devil with the ladies. And a distant relative of sorts, although you could say that of most of the County's gentry. At least there were no blood feuds between their families.

'Isn't that rather rushing things?' Kaltin continued, with a winning smile.

'Sir,' Raj added.

'Sir,' the younger man said, flushing slightly.

'That's exactly the point, gentlemen,' Raj continued. 'We made. . what, twenty-one kilometers today, on a poured-stone road?' Looks of protest. 'Yes, I know, the baggage train slows us. But we have to be prepared to move; and in the meanwhile, I don't intend to waste the time these lumbering oxcarts and our, ah, lavishly equipped comrades of the 2nd confer.'

That brought a general chuckle; the 5th might have been in garrison for some time, but the 2nd had never been out of the immediate vicinity of East Residence, not in living memory.

'Speaking of which, I'd like to thank you gentlemen for the loan of your carriages.'

Dead silence, a tension. Heads turned; a platoon-sized group of enlisted men were working on the vehicles, under the profane direction of da Cruz. Detachable hoods were stripped, thrown to vanish in the darkness, black leather against the ground. The fine springs jounced as the troopers climbed in and began handing down the luggage within, none too gently; shrieks of complaint turned to outrage as various servants, women and other hangers-on were elbowed aside. Another working party came up, bent under loads from the baggage carts. Ammunition boxes mainly, with medical supplies, bandages, and portable heliograph equipment.

'It'll greatly increase our tactical mobility once we reach our objective,' Raj continued equably. 'With the fine teams you so generously brought, those ought to be able to keep up as well as the guns do, nearly as much cross- country capacity as the troops. We won't have to return to base nearly as often.'

Mouths dropped. Raj continued more gently: 'You may note that my wife's carriage is on the end of the row, there.' It was a spidery-fragile shell, deceptively slender; the body creaked as the metal-edged hardwood boxes of rifle ammunition were dropped in. The sound was muffled on the quilt-padded linen upholstery. 'As I said, a very patriotic and pious gesture; especially as it might be misunderstood.' His voice lost the undertone of banter, went flat and hard. 'Since bringing nonregulation vehicles into the field is strictly forbidden under the Civil Government Army Code.'

There was a crash of breaking glass. A uniformed aide walked over, blinking back tears; a boy of fifteen or so, with a fresh and livid bruise discoloring one cheek. Well-born by his manner, with an almost pretty face that showed promise of strong-boned regularity later.

'Gerrin!' he said, grasping Captain Staenbridge by the hand. 'Gerrin, that brute of a trooper struck me, and they broke the windows!' He looked around, met Raj's eyes and those of the other officers, and straightened. 'Sir,' he continued, releasing the company commander's hand.

Staenbridge turned on Raj. 'Sir, are you going to permit indiscipline of this sort?'

Raj met his eyes, held them until he saw a sign of wavering. 'Messer Senior Lieutenant Staenbridge,' he said dryly, 'your. . young friend is an aide by courtesy'-and because he's a Meffred cousin and of good family, Raj remembered-'and not in the chain of command.' He looked pointedly at the youth's pistol, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and the light saber at his other hip. Both were exceedingly nonregulation; Civil Government law was quite strict on possession of arms, here in the heartland territories. 'I suggest that if he looks to you for example'-the traditional way of putting it-'you should set one. Any further questions?'

'No, sir.'

'Now, we're having inspection at 0600, as you heard. We're also having a field problem at 0730, which I expect to last all day. Since we're out of the city and have room. . so, if you please, report to my tent by 0500, and we'll plan it.' Suddenly he smiled. 'These lowlanders have so much good land, they surely won't begrudge us enough to ride over. . No questions? Dismissed.'

* * *

'Did we really have to give up the carriage, darling?' Suzette asked.

Raj was lying on his stomach on the cot; his wife was astride his back, her strong slender fingers kneading at the muscles of his neck and shoulders. The muted sounds of a night camp came through the dark canvas; a sentry's challenge and response, and raucous singing from somewhere over in the 2nd's area. There was a strong smell of sweat, dog, canvass, leather and oil, blending oddly but pleasantly with the healthy female sweat and jasmine perfume from Suzette's body.

'Spirit,' Raj said, laying his head face-down in the thin bedroll. 'Don't you start.'

She laughed softly, starting to rub his back from the waist up. 'Something's got you tense; were the 5th that bad?'

'No,' he sighed. 'Crash and Meltdown, that's good. . No, they're fighting men, or were, or they're boys who think war is glorious, which with training is even more useful, sometimes. It's that bastard Stanson.'

Her hands paused for an instant, then continued. 'Watch him; he's dangerous.' The lazy affection had gone from her voice, without affecting the mellow tone. 'And you got on reasonably well, back at Court.'

'That was before I had to see him try to command a battalion in the field,' Raj said. 'He's not stupid, better at Court affairs than I am. . but at this he doesn't know how and won't learn.'

'Don't let him make you fight him,' she said sharply. 'I've seen him kill; he loves it. And he loses his temper, completely loses it, doesn't think about consequences until it's too late.'

'I won't,' Raj said bitterly. 'I can't fight him; it would. . ruin everything.'

'You're tensing up again. . that's right, relax. . He's very well connected, too.'

'A relation of the Welman County Stansons, isn't he?'

'Yes. And the Minister of Finance. . who's a nonentity personally, but not somebody who can be ignored.'

'Some sort of connection of the Chancellor's, too.'

'Married to his wife's aunt's third cousin,' Suzette said absently; she was better than the Book of the Starborn for noble genealogies. A pause, and her hands continued.

'Why did Barholm put him in joint command?' Raj asked, after a while.

'Well, at a guess, he wants to see how you both shape,' Suzette continued, in the same abstracted tone.