'Well, we'll just have to try and pry the supplies for the infantry loose,' he said.

A blur, and he was watching a pouting bureaucrat stamp his seal on a document.

'You could have done this last week,' Raj said, snatching it up.

The civil servant was about to speak when the door swung open, and an orderly leaned in with a casual salute.

'Beggin' yer parden, ser, an' the officer of the day requests yer presence. Raghead columns approachin'.'

* * *

Enough, Raj thought: Center's holograms faded. 'We've got to do something, and do it fast,' he said, tight-lipped. 'What was the name of that infantry officer, the one who's paying his men out of pocket?'

'Messer Captain Jorg Menyez,' Muzzaf said, drying his eyes with the back of his hand, then pulling a handkerchief from one sleeve to blow his nose.

'I know the family,' Raj said. Landowners up in Kelden County, by the straits of the same name, the narrow waters between the Midworld and Pierson's Seas. Quite well-to-do, you saw their wine sold by name in East Residence, and they had. . oh, yes, marble quarries, too. 'What's he doing in an infantry outfit in the bundu? Never mind; Mekkle, if you'd be so good, look him up and have him come by my quarters tomorrow at, hmmm, 1400 hours, that should give us enough time.' He planted his fists on the table and rose. 'Now, here's how we're going to implement a little matter of administrative reform. At reveille, Gerrin will-'

* * *

'This is utterly irregular!'

The Vice-Assistant Legate of Komar was a local man, but dressed in the height of East Residence fashion. The corridor Raj and Staenbridge and Foley had tramped down was lined with open rooms, clerks sitting cross- legged at low desks and chattering as they read and annoted reports and letters; they had fallen nervously silent as the Descotters tramped through, boots ringing on the pebble-surfaced concrete. This office was rather different, walled in hand-painted tiles; the outer wall was stone fretwork laced with a flowering jasmine vine, dew-spangled with the cooling water that flowed down from jets above the ceiling. A secretary huddled wide-eyed on a bronze- legged couch in one corner of the room, almost as ornamental as the vine in her tight red dress. The bureaucrat's desk was at chair-height, northern style, a slab of porphyry almost empty save for neatly arranged pens and a lithograph of the Governor, Vice-Governor, and Chancellor in court robes.

'If you read carefully,' Raj said, plucking the parchment sheet out of the man's hands, 'it authorizes me to levy contributions and assert the authority of the Civil Government by any means necessary.' In gold, vermilion, and silver ink, complete with six ribboned seals, starting with the Vice-Governor's and running down through the Chancellor to the Minister of War and the Master of Soldiers, Residence Area. 'And it enjoins all civil authorities to cooperate.'

'But-that is for operations over the border!' The Civil Government recognized no other state on Earth-

bellevue, Center interjected in Raj's inner ear.

— on Earth as sovereign; all other territories were in rebellion.

'Oh?' Raj said, unrolling the document and giving it a quick scan. 'Not that I can see; not a mention of borders in here; it just specifies 'Komar and area.' This is Komar; so I'll thank you to sign that order for immediate transfer of title on the land grants, if you please. Plus arrears of rent, to be met out of the County treasury.'

'Out of the question,' the bureaucrat began, then faded into silence as Raj turned his back and braced a steel-toed boot against the door, wedging it shut.

Foley reached over his shoulder and drew the shotgun. He swallowed, visibly nervous, but even a man as unacquainted with first-hand violence as the plump Vice-Assistant did not doubt his willingness to use it. If anything, the slight tremor in the twin muzzles made it more terrifying still.

Staenbridge came up behind the civil servant and pushed him back into the chair with a thump. 'You're right- handed, aren't you, Citizen?' he asked politely.

'Yyyyes,' the Vice-Assistant stuttered.

'Good, wouldn't want to leave you unable to sign,' the Descotter continued cheerfully, and grabbed his left wrist. There was no struggle-or rather the bureaucrat struggled; Staenbridge laid the hand on the smooth stone of the desk without noticeable delay. Whistling between his teeth he drew his pistol with his right hand, flipped it around to grip by the barrel, and brought it down in a blurring arc that ended on the pudgy clenched fist.

The sound of impact was like a bundle of sticks breaking, combined with the thump of bread dough on a kneading board. The Vice-Assistant screamed in antiphonal chorus with his secretary, then slumped out of his chair, sprawling. The Companion's grip on his wrist pinned the limb to the surface of the desk as effectively as an iron staple would have, however, so he could not slump all the way to the floor. His face had gone grey-brown and saliva dribbled from the corner of his mouth to match the tear streaks around his eyes. Then he spasmed and whinnied as Staenbridge shifted a thumb and ground it into the soft mush of shattered small bones at the center of his hand.

The Companion bent low, tapping the other man's nose sharply with the pistol butt to attract his attention. 'Now, do sign the papers, there's a good little capon,' he said. 'Or shall I continue?' The thumb brushed across the wound once more, lightly.

* * *

'It's out of the question,' the Director of Municipal Supply said, glaring at the Gruder brothers; their blocky shoulders filled the space in front of his desk. 'Two thousand infantry tunics and trousers, shoes, belts, cartridge cases. . out of the question! I have their rifles in store, for reissue when the land grants are cleared and they resume regular duties, but this-!' he riffled at the request form. 'Ridiculous!'

'The land grants are bein' taken care of right now,' Evrard said patiently. Someone who knew him well would have realized how dangerous the trace of brogue was. 'And this is Komar? Got cotton mills, dyeworks, tailors, tanners, cobblers? Export cloth and boots? Just append an authorization for rush contracts, down there at the bottom.'

'Get out of my- Here, you man, what do you think you're doing?' he said, looking sharply around the blocky forms of the Gruder brothers.

Antin M'lewis looked up and grinned, snaggled brown teeth and cold brown eyes. 'Stealin',' he said, wrapping the silver paperknife in a dirty handkerchief and tucking it into one of the patch pockets of his jacket. 'Gives us summat in common, loik, eh?' The office walls were lined with shelves for knickknacks; he picked up a glass bubble with a miniature house inside, laughing like a child as he shook it to produce a tiny snowstorm inside, then dropped it in beside the knife.

The Director's eyes bulged, and his face turned purple, but the bellow died in his throat as Evrard's saber came out with a smooth sshhunng sound. The tip settled under his nose, touching just enough to dimple the skin of his upper lip.

'Evrard,' Kaltin said. He touched a statue of a dancing girl, only six inches high but vibrant with life; it was of honey-toned spicewood, and he rubbed his fingertips on it before holding them under his brother's nose. 'Excellent taste, don't you think?'

'Mmmm. Smells almost as nice as a real girl,' Evrard said.

'But these,' Kaltin continued, indicating a set of blown-glass animal figurines, 'are definitely common.' He began picking them up and dropping them over his shoulder, one tinkling crash after another.

'Damn you all to the Outer Dark, crash your cores and burn, demons eat your eyes,' the Director hissed. There were beads of sweat on his forehead and upper lip. 'You can't intimidate me this way!'

'Oh? How disappointing,' Evrard said, wiping the tip of his sword on his sleeve and sheathing it. 'M'lewis, what do you think we should do, then?'

'Dunno, ser,' the trooper said, frowning. He brightened. 'Throw 'im out the window, ser?'

They pounced, lifting the writhing, yelling form between them. 'One-' The windows were glazed, with the outer wooden shutters latched against the sun 'Two-

'Heave!'

The scream was cut off by a brittle crash and the crunch of breaking wood. The Director bounced back into the room; there were half a dozen superficial cuts on his face, and he spat out a tooth as he tried to climb to his

Вы читаете Warlord
Добавить отзыв
ВСЕ ОТЗЫВЫ О КНИГЕ В ИЗБРАННОЕ

0

Вы можете отметить интересные вам фрагменты текста, которые будут доступны по уникальной ссылке в адресной строке браузера.

Отметить Добавить цитату