“Yes,” continued the general, “but that’s only the start. Once you find that out I need you to send a messenger you trust to me with the details. Then you and your loyal men need to befriend the smaller lords who would rather go home in peace than fight and you need to start to drive a wedge between them and Velutio. Basically, anyone who’s worthwhile you can work on and I’ll probably persuade to walk away when my plan comes to fruition. Don’t worry about the larger lords that are closer to the borderline. I’ll take care of them once I know who they are.”
He put his arm around Cialo’s shoulders. “I don’t want you to have to bring harm to a single person. I just need information and a little persuasion. And when we finally meet as armies, face to face, I’ll make sure you’re brought into our lines under protection unless you can get to us beforehand. Rest assured, Cialo, that there are a lot of people who have the greatest respect for you, on both sides I believe, including your Emperor. We are going to win this and everything will be fine in the end.”
Cialo nodded, a little unhappily. “I was rather looking forward to being on the good side and all above board, where my mother, Gods bless her, would have been proud of me.”
Tythias smiled. “If the general has a plan and it hinges on you, then we’ll all be proud of you, sergeant. I’ll have uniforms made up for you while you’re gone.” He glanced at Kiva and the general nodded. “Captain, I think.” Men of substance are few and far between.”
Still frowning, Cialo saluted with exaggerated motions and turned toward the barracks. He started to jog as he moved to wake his men.
“Can we trust him?” Tythias asked.
Kiva shrugged. “I think so. If not, then he’s not gone back with any information that Velutio won’t know soon enough. If he falls foul of Velutio there’s little he can tell them that’ll wreck our plans. I’m still not sure of the way it’s going to pan out yet. The Gods stopped talking to me decades ago, but I’m hoping to hell they start again soon. I need a little divine help, I think.”
Darius stood on the balcony of his villa with Athas by his side, gazing past the main gate and down the valley. The night was clear with a sprinkle of stars in the sky but a chill settling in. Summer was clearly over and autumn getting into its stride. The valley was a vague impression of shapes and shadows by moonlight. Within the gate on this side, the first group of wagons, along with a wheeled bolt-thrower and an engineer’s cart stood ready to move at dawn. He sighed.
“Do you think it’s all going to work?”
Athas smiled next to him. “Kiva thinks the Gods abandoned him. He abandoned them. They’ve kept an eye on him for decades and they’ve not stopped yet. He’s got luck and ingenuity and that’s what you need, highness. Luck and ingenuity.”
Darius smiled wanly. “I hope you’re right.”
Sathina lay in the comforting fold of Tythias’ good arm as he stared down at her. The scarred prefect was the archetypical mercenary that looked dishevelled and battered and rough, but had quickly proved to be the most gentle and caring man she’d ever met. She lay for a while wondering if he would marry her. It surprised her that he hadn’t already and she’d worried over it for a long time until she pieced it together. Tythias wouldn’t marry her before he went to war. To marry her now and leave her a widow in a month… She bit her lip. That thought was creeping in all too often now. Tythias didn’t seem to have the best of luck in fights. Oh he’d survived plenty of years and plenty of battles, but his wounds were starting to become severe. If this all went well, he’d have to quit the army if he married her. If it didn’t go well, then there was no issue to worry about.
Brendan and Marco sat in one of the rooms of the officers’ quarters. Their thoughts were dark and often bleak, but neither would speak of it as they played dice over and over again, drinking unwatered wine as though they’d never try it again.
Many leagues away, Sabian stood in the command tent of Velutio’s army. The meeting had finished and the other officers and the independent lords had all gone their separate ways, leaving Sabian standing before the table, opposite his commander.
“You go too far, my Lord.”
Velutio looked up with one eyebrow raised. “I wasn’t aware you were her to dictate policy to me. You are welcome to advice, but you criticise just a little too much, commander.”
Sabian gritted his teeth. “That letter was a genuine offer, albeit an insulting one, under a flag of truce. I would never have allowed Cialo and his men to leave camp if I’d know what you were doing. It’s an insult to the honour of the army and to your own honour.”
Velutio stood sharply, slamming his hands to the table, palms down. “I will do anything in my power to bring this to a quick end. You are too stiff for your own good. If it takes deaths, assassins, treachery and deceit to win a war and to stop a massacre, I will try it every time. Caerdin’s too sharp to fall for any of them anyway, but I must try. And now, this meeting is over. You have talked out of your place for the last time Sabian. You will leave without a word and go about your preparations for tomorrow and the next time you criticise or defy me, you will be stripped of your command and, if I’m particularly peeved, crucified.”
He pointed a finger at Sabian. “Now get out of my sight!”
The commander carried out an extravagant salute and turned on his heel to leave the tent and marched out into the night, growling. Nothing was worth this.
Part Six: Imperium
Chapter XXXI
Darius took a deep breath to steady himself. The army had been down on the plains now for two days and had begun to move slowly and steadily toward the sea and the inevitable clash with the army of Velutio. The Emperor was, despite his lifetime’s study of the great campaigns, amazed at the incredibly slow speed at which a full army travelled. The infantry were not as fast as the cavalry, obviously, but the entire army was forced for move at the same speed as the slowest unit among them which turned out to be the siege units and wagon trains that toddled along at the back as though out for a country ramble. The commanders of the army seemed to be taking it all very stoically and Darius tried to be patient, but the fact that Velutio’s army was reputed to be moving with a worrying swiftness kept preying on his mind. Tythias had tried to explain that this was because they had foregone siege units and engineers in favour of speed of travel and that they required no wagon train as they had been in foragable lowlands their entire time, rather than in bare and inhospitable mountains like the rebel force. Also, Velutio had allies and vassals everywhere that provided their army with supplies as they moved, whereas all the allies the rebel army had were travelling with them on their route.
He sighed and glanced around himself at the others. They rode quietly, their faces expressionless as the noise of thousands of men and horses blanketed them and the dust rose like the column of smoke from a forest fire.
“How long ‘til we reach Silvas’ palace?” he enquired of Caerdin, who rode alongside at the head of the column.
“We’re almost there now. We’ve been on his land for an hour now. You’ll see the top tower of his palace over the ridge any minute…”
Darius nodded and turned to face their destination again just in time to see three of their mounted outriders come galloping over the hill and rein in urgently in front of the command party. The scout officer saluted and coughed a little in the resulting cloud of dust.
“Your majesty… Silvas… he’s under attack.”
Kiva reined gestured to one side and the scouts and command party both moved off the road onto the springy loam while the slow procession of military might plodded and trundled past. “Details, man!” demanded the general as soon as they were out of the way.
“Dunno sir. It’s not Velutio’s army. There’s maybe three or four different uniforms down there. They’ve not got much in the way of cavalry, but there’s quite a lot of infantry. They’ve got tents set up half a mile away, but they’re swarming around his walls and there are a couple of siege towers and a battering ram floating around among them.”